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Off to Marcos Land

What’s the best way to keep your folks from complaining that you’re always out of the house?

Take them along with you.

So me and my mom headed to Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

Note that it is a rear-numbing bus ride – we took the 7am trip of the Farinas Bus (Php650 one way, the terminal is at the Dapitan side of UST) and arrived at 7pm. Contributing to my fatigue was the bus’s playlist – Journey, The Eagles, The Scorpions, Kenny Rogers, Rod Stewart and REO Speedwagon. On. Repeat.

Good thing the Pagudpod tour the next day made all the exhaustion worth it.

The Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. I love lighthouses. I think they are so romantic. And I had the chance to go inside🙂

It has a winding staircase, and lovely details.

Then we were off to the Bangui Windmills, which harnesses wind power and converts this to sustainable electric energy.

Pagudpod is a coastal area, with miles and miles of shoreline. And Blue Lagoon surely lives up to its name.

One of the things I like about Ilocos is that there’s something for everyone. Lovely beaches and coastal vistas up north, old houses and Spanish architecture down in Vigan, Ilocos Sur – so there’s a lot to see.

Horse-drawn carriages are still a common means of transport.

En route to Calle Crisologo, we stopped by Baluarte, Chavit Singson’s menagerie of sorts. Entrance is free. I saw his famous tigers, which were all healthy but were in chains or confined in a cage. I don’t know about you, but tigers are supposed to be in the wild.

I stuck to the birds and the butterflies instead.

Butterflies like bananas. Who knew?

Old churches are a-plenty – there’s one after every few hundered meters I think. Funny how strong piety is in a land ruled by an alleged jueteng lord and a certified lady’s man. Reminds me of the Sicilian mafias in The Godfather.

Paoay Church, hands down, is the most picturesque of them all.

Back in Laoag, the Marcos Museum was naturally a part of the itenerary.

And this thought bubble popped right out of my head: Bongbong and Imee are not Macoy and Meldy, just as Noynoy and Kris are not Ninoy and Cory.